The last time Damien Johnson appeared in court, he applied for the public defender and swore, in an affidavit, that he had no income. A judge granted him release with GPS monitoring.

Johnson, 29, was re-arrested on Tuesday following a drug raid of his Ottawa residence. Agents seized more than $20,000 in cash. He was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet at the time of the bust, which yielded cocaine, ketamine, methamphetamine and hydrocodone.

Whose drugs were they? Not mine, Johnson told drug agents.

“In an interview on Feb. 3, 2026, (Johnson) claimed to have no knowledge of the narcotics in his residence,” prosecutors said in a new filing, “despite many of the narcotics being in open and plain view.”

This time, Johnson is staying in jail. A judge ruled Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court that he isn’t getting another crack at pre-trial release.

His live-in girlfriend is staying in jail, too. Kayla M. McCarthy, 23, was found in the living room, where agents seized vacuum-sealed bundles of cash.

“(McCarthy) denied knowledge of who the money in the living room belonged to,” prosecutors said, “despite being in the same room with the currency when agents made entry into the residence.”

Trial dates are pending. Both cases must go before a La Salle County grand jury, which reconvenes Feb. 10.

Both face up to 40 years if convicted of possessing 8 ounces of methamphetamine – the most serious of the multiple drug seizures – and each faces a second Class X felony (range: six to 30 years) for possessing an ounce of cocaine.

Johnson also faces a lesser charge of obstructing justice, a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years, for allegedly trying to flush some contraband down a toilet. Drug agents said they saw Johnson sprint for a bathroom but couldn’t reach the lavatory in time to retrieve whatever was flushed.

The Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team, assisted by multiple agencies, reported evidence of drug distribution. Besides the drugs, agents found an electronic currency counter, a scale, baggies and a safe containing drugs. Trident tabulated the cash at $20,685.60 and said the currency notes had been sealed in bundles of $4,000 and $5,000.

The execution of the search warrant resulted in the recovery of 260 grams of methamphetamine, 28 grams of cocaine, 24 grams of MDMA (ecstasy), 60.5 hydrocodone tablets, 8 grams of ketamine and a 473 mL bottle of liquid codeine.